Men’s Basketball Splits with Augustana

After a long break with Christmas and game postponements, the Men's Basketball team hit the court again for the first time in the new year.  The Rustlers kicked off semester two against the Augustana Vikings in a home and home series. 

Saturday the Rustlers traveled to Camrose to challenge the Vikings on their home court.  It took a  little bit of time to dust the Christmas break rust off and fell behind early and had to play catch up for the entire game.  At the half, the Rustlers went to the dressing room down by 9.  The men came out in the second half playing some solid offense outscoring the Vikings 24–17 but could not push to drive the game into overtime in the fouth quarter, eventually falling 87–86 to Augustana.  Rashon Russell lead all Rustler scorers with 19 points and Riley Rathwell chipped in 18.

Saturday the Rustlers returned to the friendly confines of home court.  Saturday was also the Alumni weekend with 10 Rustler alumni coming back to play a little basketball and watch the new crop of Rustlers compete.  With the alumni on-site, the team put in an inspired effort, and even though the team started a little slow out of the gate they gained momentum as the first half progressed and lead the Vikings 38 – 30 at the half.  The Rustlers continued to roll in the second half and increased their lead in the third quarter eventually defeating the Vikings by a score of 84– 3.  Riley Rathwell lead all Rustler scorers with 22 points which earned him the Player of the game.  Artavis Holiday chipped in 17 points and lead the team with 10 total rebounds.

The Rustlers will now head up to Grande Prairie to take on the Wolves this next weekend hoping to add a couple more victories to the win column.